Flux
The Flux system in Tower of the Archmage is quite unique. Instead of running out of mana in Tower of the Archmage you are more worried about filling up the flux bar. When the flux bar is empty you have nothing to worry about however as soon you use more flax than your maximum capacity you start over-fluxing. Over fluxing does all kind of random stuff most of which doesn't help you at all. These can be illusions that attempt to interfere with how you play the game and cause you to make a mistake, direct damage to you and/or those around you - a reduction in flux, statuses the summoning of flux clouds or blocks or even instantaneous death. The one thing that is consistent about over-fluxing is it's effect on damage.Being over-fluxed actually improves your damage up to a maximum of 100% extra damage. You reach this if you have twice the amount of maximum flux. If your max flux is 100 and your have a flux of 150 then you will deal 50% extra damage. However with all the negative other effects over-fluxing isn't really a recommended strategy. Flux Symptoms: Illusions: Illusions as mentioned above will effect the way you as a player see the screen. They can be mildly troubling to impossible (blindness). Reverse Screen: The screen is flipped horizontally or vertically or both. Arrow keys will still move you in the correct direction but depending on which way the screen flipped may not send you in the direction that it looks like they should do. Transformation: Turns your body into another random unit for a while. Nothing to worry about whatsoever. Colour changes: Changes the colours of the screen and how you view things. Blurry screen: Makes the screen blurry. Blindness: Makes the entire screen go black so you can't seen anything. In this case if you remember where the enemies are you can act accordingly if not best to use a good healing spell/regen spell and hope it goes away in time. Blindness lasts a significantly shorter duration compared to other illusions. Random Spells: Block Prison A prison of blocks can shoot out and surround you. The first thing to do when this happens is not to panic it's not always a bad thing. The blocks will damage enemies as well. The blocks will not be placed however on top of any enemies but they will be placed on top of any clouds. If the enemies have no projectiles that can reach you consider casting healing spells and waiting it out. If you have the artifact Devour you can actually use these blocks to heal you. Blockade will also probably destroy them all and do damage to an enemy. Explosion Flux energies escape from within you. This will cause a large explosion hitting you and anything near you. Enemies Worthy More research needed but seems to put positive status' on nearby enemies. Enemies Unworthy More research needed but seems to put negative status' on nearby enemies. Instant Death Half of your max health is taken away or rarely kills you outright possibly due to one of the flux afflictions putting helpless on you. Can be avoided with dodge. Strategies for dealing with overflux: Space Bar Pretty much the most consistent and simplest way with dealing with flux is to get away from the enemies and rest (hold space bar). This heals you and reduces flux. However this isn't always possible. Block Spells: Block spells can be pretty cheap if you make them right and can enable you to run away easier at which point you can heal or rest. If the enemy has to fight through the blocks they often get delayed enough for you to get away. Staircase: If you can head down a stair case (up is a big risk) you can get away from the enemies and rest. Bare in mind if they are right next to you they may follow you down. Artifacts: Artifacts like Sublimation and Sacrifice can reduce your flux but at a cost of hp depending on how you set them up. These can be very effective at removing flux but you need to understand how they work and what the dangers are. Regeneration/healing/cloud: One of the dangers of being very overfluxed is that it's hard to get back down again without dying. A strong regeration spell or cloud can help you survive the over fluxing as you rest and get back down to 0. It should be pointed out that with a decent regen spell or cloud you can flux all the way up to 1000 relatively easy so it should be simple enough to deflux using this if you are on your own. Careful use of Space Bar: When using space bar if you hold it down a little bit at a time this can help you avoid running into two or three bad flux effects in a row and heal in-between. Intelligence: If you are finding yourself overfluxing a lot you can either increase your character's intelligence on level up which will allow him to store more flux or increase your own intelligence and don't use such powerful flux heavy spells non stop. Of course the best method for dealing with overflux is to never overflux in the first place but that of course is not always possible. Enemies and Flux Although it's not always the most noticeable part of game-play every enemy in the game also uses the flux mechanic however the game has absolutely no tolerance on any enemy over fluxing. Instead of the flux symptoms that a player will get an enemy will have it's hp set to 0 and a message saying that "XXX's body cannot withstand the flux and disintegrates" It's not that often that this happens but some enemies are more prone to it than others. The later enemies particularly are more resistant with more flux and are less likely to kill themselves by over-fluxing. With special enemies that have multiple forms, for example the Archmage at the end of the game, their hp will be set to 0 and they will then transform into their next form with their hp being filled and flux set to 0. Normally there isn't supposed to be any way to directly increase the flux of enemies but it is possible through a gap in the game mechanics. The Block spell with effect counter puts negative status effects on the enemy. If you combine this with a fire rune then it will also put positive effects on the enemy as well. Using this you can load up powerful Close Counters, Far Counters, Poison Coats and armor spells (all which set flux at a constant level) and as long as the flux required is more than the enemie's maximum flux they will disintegrate within a few turns.